Biden tells Xi US and China should manage differences to prevent competition from becoming conflict

President Biden on Monday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said in their first in-person meeting since Biden took office that the two leaders should manage their differences.

“As the leaders of our two nations, we share a responsibility, in my view, to show that China and the United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict, and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation,” Biden said to Xi to open their meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

“And I believe this is critical for the sake of our two countries and the international community,” Biden added, saying that the meeting should last a few hours.

Biden and Xi are in Bali for the Group of 20 summit. They shook hands at the beginning of the meeting and smiled and posed for photographs in a room with both the American and Chinese flags.

Biden said that he is “committed to keeping the lines of communications open” between himself and Xi, adding that the U.S. and China “have so much that we have an opportunity to deal with.”